


Requiescat In Pace

by FawnOfAnxiety (ForeverNerd93)



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Chickens, No beta we die like cheese, Other, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:48:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27543361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverNerd93/pseuds/FawnOfAnxiety
Summary: In death, all things deserve respect.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17





	Requiescat In Pace

Ezio startled awake to the sound of distant screams, out of bed with a blade in his hands before he was completely aware of his surroundings. He blinked the fog of sleep from his eyes, the moon at its peak, taking but a breath to scan the room. He turned to look over the still sleeping Sofia, her hands protectively curled over the growing proof of their first child. 

Warmth bloomed in his chest. 

Just as he was dismissing the sounds as memories he would never escape, they started again closer this time. It raised the hair on the back of his neck, he slipped on his boots and tucked another blade into the well-worn folds of leather. With one last glance at his wife Ezio left with naught but a whisper of wind. He scanned the skeletal fencing of his budding vineyard, and while the sounds had come from that direction, it was movement over by the barn that caught his attention. 

Silent even on gravel, with only the light of the crescent moon, he followed the sounds over to his chicken coop. His rooster was visibly disturbed, talons and feathers glittered with red. Ezio watched as the bird aggressively prevented the hens from leaving the confines of the coop. He couldn't stop the sigh of relief, muscles and senses he'd not needed for months relaxing, then tucked his knife into his belt.

Ezio assumed the rooster had done his job and protected his flock, the sounds having come from whatever predator the bird had warded away. With a brief shake of his head and arms he turned and walked away. The sound of crunching gravel alerted the birds, the rooster letting out a brief shriek of challenge. 

Ezio continued on, no longer worried and fully intending to return to his bed, when he heard the rooster chasing after him and he sighed expecting to have to push the bird away. But instead, the rooster trotted past him, coming to a stop as if to block his path. Ezio moved to go around but stilled when the bird flared his wings with a loud screeching protest.

"Come now, Fredrico, your girls are safe." Ezio stepped forward in earnest, using his foot to push the bird aside. 

Fredrico, it seemed, was having none of it and lunged forward grabbing at his leather-covered calves and buffeting his legs with surprisingly powerful wingbeats. With a huff, Ezio shook the bird off as he made his way back toward his home wanting nothing more than to answer the call of sleep beginning to weigh on his eyes. However, when Fredrico halted his attacks and loosed an echoing cry Ezio stalled and frowned at the bird as he trotted off and then turned to look back with what looked like an impatient shuffle of his wings. 

With a resigned sigh, Ezio turned to follow. 

“Thirty-six years as an assassin, and I’m being led by a chicken. If my students saw me now.” 

Fredrico led him to the far side of his barn, where Ezio began to see the signs of where his rooster had made his stand. Feathers and clumps of fur were scattered in the dirt with the occasional streak of blood as if taken from the rolled paintings stashed in a chest on Isla Tiberina. When he looked up he saw the mangled carcass of one of his hens. 

“Ah, my apologies Frederico.” 

There was nothing salvageable from the bird, and the rooster had come to stand next to it, his wings shuffling in clear agitation even as he kept watch on their surroundings. Ezio crouched down, reaching out to grab one of her legs. 

He hummed, “Resquiat en Pace, picollo pollo.”

**Author's Note:**

> I dont- I don't know what's wrong with me.  
> I was watching DMC5 playthrough and at the end of one fight Dante quipped, "Rest in Peace, little chicken."  
> I lost it, and then imagined Ezio saying that to a dead chicken. Which then turned into post-Revalations imagery and I laughed harder.  
> 600 words _just for that last line_. I even googled what little chicken would be in Italian because at the time, I couldn't brain I was laughing so hard.  
> Obviously, I need help.  
> I hope this brought a smile to your face, or an incredulous "Did I really just waste my time for this?"


End file.
